Several Rapture Questions

I hope I can help clear this up for you.

First, VelTrack in all 6 modifiers (Pitch, Cut1, Res1, Cut2, Res2, Pan, Amp) is always active, independent of the envelope. Demonstration is easy.

Start fresh -- Initialize the program.

Enable Element 1 only, and load a simple Saw waveform (like 016 Saw Mini). Staying in E1, enable the DSP section with chain #1 or #2, in which the filters are in serial. You want all the signal to go through one filter. Set Filter 1 to LP6, Reso = 0, Cutoff = 95Hz. All other DSP disabled.

In the modifiers section for E1, disable all envelopes, especially the Cut1 Envelope (Status = off). Notice all EG parameters are grey except VelTrack--there's your clue.

Make sure E1 is enabled down in the Mixer section, and crank the Vol level to 88%. No other elements should be disabled. Open the Master volume to 80%, and no limiter.

OK, now, play some notes around middle C. Use different velocities, and note that no matter what you play, you don't hear much until you play down around C3 and below. At C4 (middle C) and above, nothing -- all filtered out. You can confirm by using a Spectrum analyzer in the Rapture Fx bin -- you might see some wave action, but too low to be audible.

Next, up the E1 EG VelTrack value to 1200. Just change the 1 parameter. Leave the envelope disabled. Note the difference in what you hear at different velocities around C4. This is the effect of VelTrack.

Perhaps this is the only difference between VelTrack and Vel.Intensity? The docs aren't very clear. Maybe Rene will contribute more information on this?


As for your other question -- Key tracking in Rapture does not effect the envelope timing using the front end controls, but, using the Mod Matrix, you can use Keyboard as an input and many envelope parameters as the Destination. Click the icon near the program name that looks like a 5-pin MIDI port to open the Modulator Matrix.

As for slaving one input to another, you will have to present a specific question here to get a specific answer.

Rapture is an excellent tool for soundesign, and has many builtins to "push the envelope" so to speak.

Have you discovered SFZ format yet? Rapture and Dim Pro both support SFZ files, which have their own set of DSP processing macros you can use to tweak your sound files. The documentation is found within the website's "Support" section.

regards,

-- kwgm

Hi there,

OK, now I understand what you're saying. No, you cannot sync one waveform to another in Rapture. There are other features that approach sync -- for example, using the multi-voice and detune features for each element, but not between elements. There are also multisamples that have been sync'd in another synth (maybe Zeta?), for use in an element.

As far as your last point, yes -- the modulation envelopes are for the entire element and cannot be assigned to individual zones within the element. Sorry if I misunderstood. If this is what you need, perhaps you can use multiple elements with identical settings, using different Zones -- will this work? (By Zone, I mean a specific range of notes.) With 6 elements, that can cover a lot of territory.

I'm thinking that Tom Brock is out of town for a few days. I'm sure you'll hear from him when he returns.

Don't forget to explore SFZ format. Here's the link: SFZ File Documentation

That's great -- I forgot about the keyboard tracking in the envelope. You can also make a loop in there, too.

Rapture is very powerful, and one of my very favorite sound design tools.

What you may not know is there's an update coming very soon that promises a few more features.. check this out towards the end of the month.

Also, Tom (BRock) has written a few tutorials on Rapture programming that are over in the Sonar Wiki. When you're ready, take a look.

Have fun!

Here is the link to the Rapture Section on the SONAR User Wiki.

Thanks, Bob. It's now bookmarked in my browser. I think I stumbled across it once before but forgot all about its existance.